The Beauty of Apricity
by Blackrose Malfoy
Summary: During a walk around the Black Lake Ron and Hermione discuss their favorite things about winter. Also, Ron learns the meaning of the word apricity. Romione. One-shot. Written for AStitchedUpHeart's Broaden Your Horizons Challenge (Romance Stories)- REBOOT and Aqua Cahill's What A Word! Challenge.


**Author's Note: Hello everyone! This is my first attempt at writing Romione as anything other than a side pairing so hopefully I have managed to do this couple justice. Please take a moment to review once you've finished reading to let me know how I did. :)**

**This was written for Aqua Cahill's What A Word! Challenge (my word was Apricity) and AStitchedUpHeart's Broaden Your Horizons Challenge (Romance Stories)- REBOOT, Catergory: Truth.**

**************Disclaimer: Harry Potter and everything in the Harry Potter universe belongs to J. K. Rowling, Bloomsbury, Scholastic, and Warner Bros (and maybe some others I forgot to mention). If this information is not correct I apologize. (I looked it up to make sure this disclaimer was accurate and that's what I found.) I make no money from this. This (writing fanfiction for the best book series of all time!) is just something I do for fun. (So please don't sue me!)**

The Beauty of Apricity

"So, what is your favorite thing about winter?" Hermione inquired curiously as she and Ron walked hand in hand around the edge of the frozen Black Lake.

Even though they had known each other for years they had quickly discovered that knowing each other as friends and knowing each other as lovers were entirely different things. They now found themselves making a point to engage in everyday conversations that had somehow failed to come up throughout the years. It turned out that when you truly love someone you can find even the simplest things about them absolutely fascinating. A perfect example of that was the conversation that was taking place, discovering the other's favorite thing about the current season.

"Oh, well, uh…" Ron fumbled for words. The question had caught him a bit off guard. He really should be used to that by now; Hermione always seemed to be able to catch him off guard. Ron really didn't mind it though. It kept life interesting and exciting, even if it did make him appear a bit dim sometimes. "Snow?" he responded unsurely, after a moment of thought.

"Snow is nice," Hermione replied with a smile.

"What about you?" he wondered, "What's your favorite?"

"Apricity," she answered easily. Obviously she had pondered this question before. Again, he shouldn't really have been surprised; Hermione was always pondering something.

"Yeah, apriocity is great," he agreed, not wanting to let on that he really had no idea what she was talking about.

Hermione chuckled as she grasped his hand a little tighter. "No, Ron, not apriocity, _apricity_."

"Oh," he replied lamely, "What's apricity?" He made sure to pronounce the word correctly this time to prevent himself from looking even more like a fool than he already did.

"It's the warmth of the sun in winter," she explained. As if to illustrate her point she closed her eyes and tilted her face upward for a moment. Once she had finished she instructed Ron to do the same.

He complied with her request and found that he really did enjoy apricity too. The feeling of the warmth of the sun against your face while every other part of your body was surrounded by the frigid chill of winter was rather refreshing. It was definitely something he was quickly finding an appreciation for.

Ron opened his eyes and turned his attention back toward his girlfriend. "That's a good answer," he acknowledged, "It makes mine seem rather stupid."

"No, it doesn't," Hermione disagreed, "Snow is beautiful."

"Not as beautiful as you," he said instinctively.

Hermione blushed. "Thank you," she replied quietly.

Even though she had been with him romantically for several months she still often reacted somewhat shyly to compliments. Despite how long she had known him she never would have guessed that Ron Weasley could be quite the romantic when he tried. He didn't always succeed in sounding as suave as he wanted to, but she found each and every attempt endearing all the same.

"I want to do my answer again," he announced, determination on his face.

"All right," Hermione agreed. She was slightly perplexed.

"Snow used to be my favorite, ever since I was a kid," he confessed, "But, today I realized that even though snow's still great it's not my favorite thing anymore."

"So, what is your new favorite thing?" she wanted to know.

"It's you," Ron informed her with a smile.

"Me?" Hermione asked, confused.

"Yeah," he answered. Suddenly he released his hold on her hands and wrapped his arms around her tightly. He spun her so that she was now pressed firmly against him. Ron tiled her face up toward his and began to explain his answer. "I'm not sure exactly what it is about you that's my favorite. I suppose it's a lot of things really."

She giggled as a wave of snowflakes tickled her face. "Like what?" she questioned, obviously intrigued. The tone of her voice was verging on giddy.

"Well," Ron continued as he brushed back a stray strand of her hair that had fallen across her face, "It's the way that your hair shines when the sunlight hits it, the way you wrinkle your nose when the snowflakes tickle your face, the way you describe things with ridiculously obscure intellectual words like apriocity…"

"Apricity," she corrected, amused.

"Yeah, that," Ron replied, obviously not paying much attention to her good-natured critiquing. He was currently caught up in his own thoughts about how wonderful she was. She was beautiful, brilliant, witty, cunning, and so many other amazing things that he doubted he could properly describe even if he possessed her outrageously extensive vocabulary.

"I have more," Ron said, then quickly added, "That is if you'd like to hear them."

"I'd love to," she responded truthfully, "But, right now I can think of something else I'd rather do."

"Like what?" he wondered.

Hermione smirked at him in response.

Unexpectedly she captured his lips with hers in a passionate kiss. It didn't take long for him to deepen the kiss and soon they were both swept away by the strong feelings of love they felt for each other. After a few moments they broke apart and gazed at each other, completely captivated.

Once they had both managed to come back to reality Ron smiled. "Now, where were we?"

"We were discussing our favorite things about the season," Hermione reminded him.

"Oh, right. Well, what do you say we continue that discussion?" he suggested. "And while we're at it we can enjoy the apriocity."

"Apricity," Hermione again corrected him, laughing as she did so.

"That's what I meant," he countered.

And with that being said they returned to their pleasant walk around the lake, enjoying each other's company and talking about anything and everything they could possibly think of as they did so. It was a wonderful day and a perfect chance to enjoy that one word that Ron Weasley might someday learn to properly pronounce, otherwise known as apricity.


End file.
